Whilst the World Cup is now less than 48 hours away, the saga facing Portuguese giants is dominating much of the press in the football world right now.

Attention will quickly be turning to Russia, but Sporting's controversial stand-off with six first-team stars has caught the eye of fans across the world.

After an attack from fans during a training session, six Sporting stars – Rui Patricio, William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes, Gelson Martins, Daniel Podence and Bas Dost – have all told the club that they are terminating their contracts.

Portuguese stars Patricio, Carvalho, Fernandes and Martins are arguably Sporting's four most valuable players, and fans around the globe are calling for their clubs to sign them for free.

Speedy winger Martins his 13 goals and 13 assists this past season, and one interesting party may well be Liverpool, who viewed the 23-year-old as an alternative to Mohamed Salah last summer, as reported by BBC Sport.

With Jurgen Klopp keen to bring in depth out wide behind Salah and Sadio Mane, Martins fits the bill perfectly – and fans on Twitter have demanded that the Reds move quickly to seal the winger's signature if his contract truly is being terminated.

Supporters think that Martins would be the ideal signing for free and a sensational impact substitute, whilst urging the club to get a deal done as soon as possible and ignore Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri in favour of the Portuguese wide man.

If we don’t get one of Bruno Fernandes or Gelson Martins I’ll be gutted

Gelson Martins along other teammates are currently trying to get their contract terminated due to problems at Sporting CP. Martins would provide great depth and rotation to Mane/Salah. Imagine being able to sub on a player of equal pace. #LFC#Transfertalk#LiverpoolFC

If its true about the players ripping up their contracts at Sporting, I really hope Edwards is on the blower to the players right now, signing players like Martins on a free is a rare thing and would add that much needed pace on the bench @LFC need as cover for Mane & Salah #LFC

Olly Dawes

Olly is a Sports Management graduate and aspiring journalist, with most of his work surrounding football or NFL. He has formed two of his own sites, as well as contributing to a number of others before starting with Here Is The City.